Monthly Archives: July 2009

“Blessed are you, O God of our fathers; praised be your name forever and ever. Let the heavens and all your creation praise you forever. You made Adam and you gave him his wife Eve to be his help and support; and from these two the human race descended. You said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone; let us make him a partner like himself.’ Now, Lord, you know that I take this wife of mine not because of lust, but for a noble purpose. Call down your mercy on me and on her, and allow us to live together to a happy old age. . . . Amen, amen.” (Tobit 8:5-8)

If government really wanted to help people, rather than taking over new industries, it could help the poor and improve the economy by using the industry it already controls: education.

My proposal would be that any degree leading to certain necessary career functions should be free. Namely, anything you can get with an associate’s degree (e.g., nursing, computer repair, electrical, plumbing, contracting, carpentry, automotive), teaching, or any medical degree.

First, by saving the people in these careers from exorbitant student loan bills, we can cut out a major incentive for the fees they charge us for their necessary services.

Secondly, this would give an incentive for more people to pursue these careers. The more people out there doing these jobs, the less they will cost. Better yet, people will study these things to learn how to do them themselves.

1. It goes against the Social Justice Encyclicals. “WHAT?” you ask? “That’s impossible!” But it does: one of the most consistent teachings of the Popes, found also in Chestertonian Distributism, is that workers should have an “ownership” of their labor, that those who do the work should have the ultimate say in the business. Ask public school teachers if they have a sense of ownership in their labor.

2. It goes against subsidiarity, as well as the Tenth Amendment. It’s none of the federal government’s business. It’s a state or local matter.

3. “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”: socialized medicine is just another way for the federal government to increase its power. Like every new bureaucracy, it will add more political appointments for politicians to reward people with. More tax money for them to play with. Again, has the US Department of Education done anything to improve education in the 30 years it’s existed? And when Reagan came to power, promising to abolish it, did he? No. He realized it represented new power for him to push his personal agendas with.

4. Does anyone *really* think the Democrats will let it pass without including abortion? And is anyone bothering to say they won’t support it if it funds contraception?

5. We already have socialized medicine. It’s called Medicaid, and it stinks. But just about anyone who really needs healthcare will qualify for it.

6. Rationing, eugenics and euthanasia: as Oregon, the UK, Canada, the Netherlands and other places that have socialized medicine have demonstrated, it comes with great cost to those who have serious health conditions, genetic disorders and severe disabilities. We’ve already seen how Obama’s original HHS appointee, Tom Daschle, supports a national committee to establish standards for denying care to those who are most seriously ill.

7. Vaccines and embryonic stem cell research, or even natural child birth: socialized medicine will take away our freedom of choice in our own medical care. We will have less freedom to conscientiously object to any procedures we disagree with . As it is, federal standards are often cited by doctors who refuse to let patients conscientiously object.

8. Every person I’ve talked to who has actually lived in a country with socialized medicine, even those who say they are supporters of it, will admit that there are huge waiting lists for what we now consider basic tests like MRIs and CT Scans, as well as for seeing specialists and definitely having major surgery.

All they need to do is make it easier for those who need it to qualify for Medicaid, and give tax credits for private health insurance.

It seems that most of the Marfan syndrome related news that pops up on my news search is from the UK. So many articles about people in the UK dying from Marfan syndrome because they didn’t get the proper diagnosis or treatment. Articles about people raising money to save the lives of people with Marfan syndrome. . . . .

It’s storming tonight, and I’ve got to go to bed early to take Allie to an eye appointment in Charleston.

She had her year follow up to her surgery in June, and they weren’t able to measure her eyes. Her right eye is still so weak she couldn’t hold it still for the one method, and then she wouldn’t hold her head still for the other method. My mom said, “If I give you five bucks, will you do it?”
She said, “Not for 300 bucks!”